Page 55 of Ruin Me Gently

I didn’t.

“Lilith.”

Slowly, reluctantly, I peeled my gaze away from the food and met her wide, disbelieving eyes.

I was so screwed.

She tapped her nails against the counter, waiting.

My throat felt tight. The logical part of my brain screamed at me to deny everything. But I couldn’t.

I swallowed, then said, “I… may have left him my number.”

Silence.

She just stared at me for a beat, before she screeched, “You did what?!”

She looked like she’d witnessed a live exorcism. Her mouth opened and closed, completely speechless—a rare occurrence in itself.

“Look, I was curious,” I groaned. “You can’t just leave a bunch of cryptic gifts on someone’s porch for weeks and expect them not to want answers.”

I sighed, taking a sip of chai before scrolling through last night’s completely fruitless searches. “Besides, it’s not like I’m any closer to figuring anything out,” I said, showing her the blank results.

She snatched the phone from me, tapping aggressively. “Nothing?”

“Nothing.” I confirmed, taking a sip. “As soon as he texted, I plugged his number into everything. Google, reverse lookup, every social media site I could think of. Not a damn thing.”

She frowned, tapping again. “No Instagram? No LinkedIn? Not even a bad MySpace account?”

“Not even a Pinterest board,” I said, taking my first bite—fuck,it was delicious.

She let out a long whistle, tossing my phone onto the table. “Damn. Full-on shadow man.”

I shrugged. “Not that shocking. He’s been lurking for God knows how long. I doubt he’s gonna be posting Instagram stories. Or checking in on Yelp like ‘Great spot for mildly ominous surveillance.’”

“Would it kill him to at least have a Spotify playlist though?”

“He doesn’t even show up on my doorbell feed. There’s no way he’d use his real number. He probably has a drawer full of burners.”

She rested her chin on her palm, eyes dancing with amusement. “Okay, but I have to ask. What’s the vibe here?”

I blinked. “The… vibe? Molly, I’m curious. That’s it. This is a rational human response to an irrational situation.”

“Sure,” she said with a smirk. “But most rational humans wouldn’t be having their lunch delivered by their stalker whilst texting them.”

I gave her a scowl.

“Okay, well, most stalkers don’t disappear for days just because you tell them off,” I scoffed. “And they definitely don’t wait foryouto make a move before they come back.”

“I mean, yeah. Thatisweird,” she said through a mouthful of food.

“Exactly.” I gestured at her with my latte. “I sat on it for a few days. If he was out for something bad, he wouldn’t have dropped weapons at my door, and he definitely wouldn’t have just… left.”

“So, what?” she hummed. “You think he’s got a moral code? Like, ‘oh no, she yelled at me, time to reevaluate my life choices?’”

“Doubtful. But that’s why I want to know more. What’s his deal? What’s the endgame here?”

That’s all I wanted. Answers.

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